Prasanna Ranatunga (born 1 January 1967) is a Sri Lankan politician, member of parliament, and current Minister of Urban Development and Housing. He was also appointed as the Chief Government Whip on 18 April 2022.[1][2] He was the 7th Chief Minister of Western Province, Sri Lanka.

Prasanna Ranatunga
ප්‍රසන්න රණතුංග
பிரசன்ன ரணதுங்கா
Minister of Urban Development and Housing
Assumed office
14 May 2022
PresidentGotabaya Rajapaksa
Ranil Wickramasinghe
Prime MinisterRanil Wickramasinghe
Dinesh Gunawardena
Preceded byMahinda Rajapaksa
Chief Government Whip
Assumed office
18 April 2022
PresidentGotabaya Rajapaksa
Ranil Wickramasinghe
Preceded byJohnston Fernando
Minister of Public Security
In office
18 April 2022 – 9 May 2022
PresidentGotabaya Rajapaksa
Prime MinisterMahinda Rajapaksa
Preceded bySarath Weerasekara
Succeeded byTiran Alles
Minister of Tourism
In office
12 August 2020 – 9 May 2022
PresidentGotabaya Rajapaksa
Prime MinisterMahinda Rajapaksa
Preceded byJohn Amaratunga
Succeeded byHarin Fernando
7th Chief Minister of Western Province
In office
4 May 2009 – 1 September 2015
Preceded byReginald Cooray
Succeeded byIsura Devapriya
Member of Parliament
for Gampaha District
Assumed office
1 September 2015
Majority316,544 Preferential Votes
Personal details
Born (1967-01-01) 1 January 1967 (age 57)
Sri Lanka
Political partySri Lanka Podujana Peramuna
SpouseMaureen
RelationsReggie (father)
Arjuna (brother)
Nishantha (brother)
Dammika (brother)
Sanjeeva (brother)
Ruwan (brother)
ChildrenArchana, Pavithra, Udara
Alma materAsoka College/ Ananda College

He belongs to the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna and is part of the Sri Lanka People's Freedom Alliance.[3] He is the brother of former Sri Lanka cricket captain Arjuna Ranatunga.[4][5][6][7] Ranatunga entered parliament in 2015 from Gampaha District as an opposition member. Ranatunga received a vote count of 384,448 in the 2015 parliamentary elections

On 6 June 2022, he was sentenced to two years of rigorous imprisonment suspended for five years, after he was found guilty of threatening a businessman from whom he solicited a bribe of Rs. 64 million to evict unauthorised occupants of a parcel of land.[8]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Prasanna Ranatunga assumes duties as Chief Government Whip". Colombo Gazette. 19 April 2022. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  2. ^ "Minister Ranatunga new Chief Government Whip". The Island. 19 April 2022. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  3. ^ Western Province Chief Ministers
  4. ^ Prasanna - New Chief Minister of WP
  5. ^ "Western Province council". Archived from the original on 6 April 2012. Retrieved 5 June 2012.
  6. ^ "UPFA confident of victory at LG Polls - Prasanna Ranatunga". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 5 June 2012.
  7. ^ Western Province Prasaana Ranatunga Archived 17 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ "Prasanna Ranatunga sentenced to 2-year RI, suspended for five years". Sri Lanka News - Newsfirst. 6 June 2022. Retrieved 10 August 2022.